


you're perfect the way you are

by merrylarry



Series: 99 problems, and they're all their own faults [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Comforting Tony, Insecure Stephen, M/M, Stephen is just super emotional okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 09:41:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14892201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merrylarry/pseuds/merrylarry
Summary: On their one year anniversary, things get emotional and Tony is there to make things better again.





	you're perfect the way you are

**Author's Note:**

> Aye, I'm digging the nice comments and kudos on the past two fics in this series. 
> 
> As usual, my tumblr is @god-doesnt-talk-to-us and I'm always open to IronStrange asks

Tony and Stephen had been dating for exactly a year when things really became serious to the both of them. At first it had simply been fun dates to occupy their nights. Then Stephen started sleeping over and Tony would bring him breakfast in bed. It was domestic bliss in every sense, but neither had the courage to make sure the other felt the same way.

Both men had been hurt in the past, and neither wanted to ever experience that level of emotional turmoil again.

So, to make it really feel like they were a couple, a fancy dinner seemed like the best way to celebrate their year spent together.

“Listen, this kind of thing,” Stephen motioned between the two of them. “Isn’t exactly my forte.”

“So that Ph.D of yours wasn’t in relationships?” Tony tried in an attempt to lighten the conversation up a bit.

Stephen scoffed and smiled. “I wish that was a thing. I think both of us could benefit.”

“I’m not expecting perfection from you, you know that right? I’m not exactly an expert at this type of thing either,” Tony said.

Stephen studied Tony’s face for a few heartbeats. “I just don’t want to mess this up,” he whispered. “I care about you more than I care about myself at this point, which I never thought was even possible.”

Tony reached across the table and gave Stephen’s scarred hands a gentle squeeze. “You’re not going to scare me away, okay? We’re in this together now.” The two men’s eyes met and they both found it hard to look away. “Besides, it’s been a year and neither of us have royally fucked up the relationship, so that has to be a sign of something.”

Stephen’s eyes darted to his own hands - it was a habit of his; everytime he became worried or anxious, his first reaction was to look at or over analyze his most vulnerable attribute. After the accident, it was his hands. Before, it was the fact that his hair never stayed where he put it. He was scared to death of looking like a fool in front of the wrong people.

But after the accident, he had a lot more things to worry about than the way his hair looked.

“Stephen, look at me,” Tony said. Stephen obeyed hesitantly. “I don’t care about your hands. They’re part of who you are, just like this hunk of metal in my chest is to me. I don’t need you to be perfect, I just need to you know that I love and care about you, and that will _never_ change.”

Stephen gave him a small smile. “I don’t know what I would do without you, Tony.”

“You’d probably be in a lost less danger, to be honest.” Both men chuckled and resumed eating their overpriced food.

The rest of their anniversary was small and quiet. They went to see some romance movie that Tony had seen advertisements for and Stephen insisted that he paid, because he wanted to be a courteous date, afterall.

And if they spent more time looking at each other than the screen, well, wasn’t that movie theaters were made for?


End file.
